Champagne Blend Chenin Blanc Italian Red Blends France Jura

The sparkling wines of Champagne have been revered by wine drinkers for hundreds of years, and even today they maintain their reputation for excellence of flavor and character, and are consistently associated with quality, decadence, and a cause for celebration. Their unique characteristics are partly due to the careful blending of a small number of selected grape varietals, most commonly Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. These grapes, blended in fairly equal quantities, give the wines of Champagne their wonderful flavors and aromas, with the Pinot Noir offering length and backbone, and the Chardonnay varietal giving its acidity and dry, biscuity nature. It isn't unusual to sometimes see Champagne labeled as 'blanc de blanc', meaning it is made using only Chardonnay varietal grapes, or 'blanc de noir', which is made solely with Pinot Noir.

Originating in France yet now grown in many parts of the New World, Chenin Blanc is one of the most versatile and highly regarded white wine grape varietals on earth. These green skinned grapes hold a relatively high acid content, and as such can be used for making still white wines of exceptional quality, as well as superb sparkling wines (such as the Crémant wines of the Loire Valley) and extremely aromatic dessert wines. Their natural transparency means that they are a fine grape for expressing their terroir in the bottle, and winemakers often experiment with this varietal to coax unusual and intense flavors from the grapes, such as allowing the development of noble rot on the fruit in order to make sweet and viscous wines of a unique character.

Year in, year out, France enjoys its prestigious reputation as the producer of the finest wines in the world. With a wine making history which spans several thousand years and owes its expertise to the Romans, it comes as little surprise that this most highly esteemed of the Old World wine countries continues to impress and enchant both novices and experts to this day. Despite the rise in quality of wines from neighboring European countries, not to mention the New World, the French wine industry continues to boom, with up to eight billion bottles being produced in recent years. However, France prides itself on always putting quality before quantity, and the wide range in fine produce is a testament to the dedication and knowledge of the wineries across the country. Indeed, from rich and complex reds to light and aromatic white wines, French wines are as varied and interesting as they are enjoyable to drink, making this country a firm favorite for wine lovers across the globe.

The Isle of Jura is widely regarded as one of Scotland’s last true wildernesses - a wild and rugged place, found in the Southern Hebrides and home to just two hundred inhabitants and several thousand deer. It has one pub, one road, and despite being only sixty kilometers from the major metropolitan center of Glasgow on the mainland, it takes some time to get there. Which may help to explain why Jura whisky is so special - it really is a whisky which has evolved by itself, in isolation from the hustle and bustle of the world, and is widely regarded as one of Scotland’s finest single malts.

Jura whisky almost became something purely of the past. There was a historic distillery on the island since 1810, but due to a lack of interest in quality single malts in the late 19th century and early 20th century - thanks to the rise in lower quality, blended grain whiskies which were taking over the mainland - it fell into ruin. In 1963, the island’s only distillery was re-opened, and with the support of the island’s community, it began working again and aimed to create unique and characterful whiskies which would reflect the independent spirit of this tiny, wind-battered land.